Tequila MockingBird

My understanding is that the reason why you're having this issue is not necessarily because they must reserve on their end but because of the fact that you've chosen the "My Time Dining" option which, as I understand it, negates you from having a table assigned to you at all. In our situation, we have the dining room set at 5:30 PM which is consistent with how my friend selected it. In theory, she should have an official table set up. I've booked it through Royal Carribbean. No travel agent. I might consider calling Royal Caribbean directly but I suspect that they're just going to offer the option to link the reservations (which, as I understand it now, will spoil the surprise so now I'm entertaining the thought of communicating directly to the dinning staff instead). I don't want to confuse my friend, but I don't think that there should be an issue with seating arrangements. There's 6 of them and only 2 of us. Regarding the boarding times and avoiding the family before dinner, I respectfully disagree with this sentiment. The ship sets sail at 4:00 PM and dinner is at 5:30 PM. Not to mention going through the mandatory muster session. I'm almost certain that they're going to want to settle in their cabin and unpack and then exhaust all their remaining free time at the waterpark or maybe the arcade with their children until dinnertime. It's only an hour and 30 minutes of hiding in plain sight from them and knowing which "danger areas" there are to avoid, lol.

Good Morning! So, here's my situation. My best friend has booked a cruise coming up in November with her family (husband and 4 kids). This is her first cruise and she was a bit concerned about going through the dinning room, specifically the idea of her dinning with "strangers". She invited me to go with her but I politely declined. Secretly though, I've booked the same cruise without her knowing. I would like to surprise her by being there and seeing our family at the dinner table waiting for her and her family, lol. With that being said, I would like to let the dinning staff aware of my intentions. I would prefer for me and my husband to be assigned to the same dinning room table as her family. I know that the best way to do this is to link the reservations together, but obviously, I want to surprise her by actually being there on the ship. I'm aware of the option to link reservations together which will guarantee that the tables will be assigned to the same cabins, but my questions are this: Should I link the cabin with hers, will her family be notified or made aware of this linking on their end? If not, will they be made aware of this during check in? My ideal situation is to be as discreet as possible until they see us at the dinning room table the first night on sea.